I actually feel excited about doing today’s post. It is something that pushed me off my comfort zone. It may be a super simple recipe but the expectation and trepidation of how it would end up being was immense. 🙂 It is the tenth of the month, so it is time for the Muslim Food Blogger (MFB) Challenge. You can check out all the previous posts here. This month, we chose to cook with an ingredient and it was “Pomegranate”. “Rumaan” as it is called in Arabic is one of the fruits mentioned in the Quran. It is a fruit that awaits us in Jannah, InShaAllah… Have you looked at it and marveled at its beauty? At the way each pearl is placed inside, the sweet tartness that is unmatched with any other fruits… “In both of them are fruit and palm trees and pomegranates. So which of the…
Ishtu ~ Kerala Vegetable Stew
While I posted the Idiyappam/ Noolputtu recipe couple of months ago, I had hinted that I would post the Ishtu recipe too. It was peaking from behind, so it didn’t make sense to delay this post indefinitely. Hehe… After all the combination of these two is quite a hit… I always wonder why Ishtu is called so. I am sure it is the Malayalamized version of the English word “stew”. Can you see the connection? When umma would make this, I would always think that she is making fun of the name, but lately realized that she was saying its proper name. 😀 I guess we all would have thought of it that way some time in our life! Ishtu is basically a potato stew, made with minimal spices and coconut milk. It is very easy to make, but the spices added gives it such a delicious dimension. …
Chai Karak ~ Emirati Milk Tea
With the season chilled, the amount of tea that is drunk during the hours is humongous. I was hearing the number of thousands of cups of chai karak sold on a daily basis during the winter months in the UAE on radio and was literally shell shocked! You will see people who park a few feet away from the cafeteria, roll down their window, and gesture their index finger upwards to the staff watching out. You will then see him quickly running in and coming out with one cup of chai in a covered plastic tray and walking towards the car, so that the driver can enjoy his hot cup. We are pampered with instant services here, you see? 🙂 There are people who will buy in flasks, buy bigger cups (read me and D!) and ask for “without” (no sugar!). The atmosphere around a good tea selling…
Double Bean Sriracha Hummus
I had joined a challenge called “Recipe Swap” sometime back and participated in one challenge. But then, it just fizzled down and didn’t take off. In November, Mir took over the reins of the group and decided to kick-start the challenge. I decided to participate this month and thankfully there was enough time to cook the dish before my parents landed. Hehe… I was assigned Ali’s blog “Fix Me a Little Lunch“. She is a US based food blogger, and as mentioned in her blog, she tries to cook and eat food cooked from organic sources and at home. As is my nature, my first instance was to try a sweet recipe. So I hovered around a few like the Blueberry Peach Coffee Cake, the very intriguing Star Anise Pannacotta and these Mini Strawberry Chocolate Galette. But then I had already baked way too much sweet last month…
Vazhuthananga Upperi/ Mezhukupuratti ~ Malabar Eggplant Stir Fry
This month, I am joining up with a new challenge. I have joined it up more to push myself to blog. Every time, I feel that my creative juices are getting stuck, so such challenges are good enough to get me thinking out of the box. The posts I am scheduling this month seem to be majorly challenge posts too, hehe… Vidya and Jolly jointly conduct the A-Z Recipe Challenge, where the members cook from an alphabet every alternate month. The beauty of this challenge is you pick up an ingredient which starts with the concerned alphabet and cook with it. I had become a part of the group in October but waited till I would feel fine to join in. When the alphabet “E” was declared for January, I gave my name but I had forgotten that I would have my whole entourage at home and that would…
Flourless Chocolate Cake for One | Sugar Free
All the recipes that you have seen in the Bakeathon this month have either been made to treat my cousins, give to friends or colleagues, for my girls… In short, it was always for distribution. Don’t you think it is unfair if I don’t treat myself to something chocolaty when I have baked so much for everybody else? 😉 Here comes in the Flourless Chocolate Cake, that will serve only one. Yes, only one person, and that was me. I can’t explain the process of how I had to sneak bake this and eat this in between a weekend cooking mess in the kitchen. Especially, chocolate has this nasty habit of leaving off its aroma as it bakes. So my sniffy Azza kept coming in and peeping into the oven – I didn’t turn the lights on! – “Ummi, is something baking?” And I would just do my…
Salad Shirazi ~ Persian Cucumber Tomato Salad
The tenth of the month means it is time for the Muslim Food Blogger challenge. This month, the theme was something of so much interest to me. I had put up the theme with so much excitement, but somehow my mood slid and I struggled to put this post together. I can’t express how sad it makes me feel… 🙁 This month, we chose to cook from an Islamic nation and the country in question is Iran/ Persia. I love Iranian food and I have mentioned it in a few of the posts covering some of the recipes in that cuisine. I had planned to cook a few recipe, bookmarked them, printed them, bought the stocks… alas, somehow my mood just didn’t work and I had to settle for a simple recipe. At least I am happy that I am able to participate… Iran or Persia has…
Chukku Kaapi | Dry Ginger Coffee
When you end up scheduling posts, the latest happenings just wouldn’t get recorded. 🙂 After almost three years, we had a school friends meetup over the weekend. We actually couldn’t believe that we hadn’t met for so long! Days, months and years seem to pass so fast and then the distance is limited by the use of social media, that you really don’t realize the gap of personal interaction! It would be a cliche to say we had an amazing time, just talking, giggling and discussing various issues. Since we had met up at a friend’s house rather than the mall, we were able to laugh our lungs out. We parted, promising to keep the meetups as frequent as possible. But usually the tide of life just sweeps through and things don’t get done as promises made. 🙂 We also had some amazing rains, that saw the roads…
Wheatgerm Cookies
If there is something that can be baked within 30 minutes, then there is no points for guessing – cookies! Even muffins can be done in that time, but totally dependent on the density of the batter. Cookies also have its condition – that the dough can be used to bake immediately, which is usually not the case for cookies like chocolate chip ones. While wondering what to come up as the third post for the “Meals under 30 minutes” theme for the Blogging Marathon #94, my eyes fell on these delicious cookies that I had baked recently. There was this box of wheatgerm that I had bought and was approaching its best before date. Bloggers and cooking fanatics would definitely appreciate how that feels! Even though I have truncated my purchases so much now unlike before, I still have such issues coming up once in a while….
Paneer Dahi Bhalla
OK, so when you are on a quantified diet and you need to eat as per what is in your list, what do you do to cravings? Twist and tweak them as per your diet! 😀 So today, under my theme “Meals under 30 minutes” for the Blogging Marathon #94, I have to share something that I ate “God knows how many times” of late! The first time I had Dahi Bhallas (or vadas) was at Humi’s place, when I went to meet her the very first time – that was around four years ago. I was never a chaat fan – the first time I had chaat at the insistence of my colleague P, I almost puked out at the combination of sweet and sour – please do not beat me! Gradually, it caught up on my taste buds and now I love it! But still not…
Idiyappam | String Hoppers
When Valli’s mail came for the themes for this month’s Blogging Marathon #94 and my eyes fell on “Meals within 30 minutes”, I really wanted to do it. I am currently building up my “Under 30 Minutes” recipes on the blog and the theme was perfect for adding three more. I have chosen three recipes that fits into different courses, so that it doesn’t feel like you get only drinks within that time. 😀 The first one are Idiyappams or Nool Puttu, as we call it. “Nool” is thread, and definitely these are thread-like rice dumplings, steamed and served. I never realized how much my girls loved this till they literally ate my head asking to make it. I thought it was a really complicated process and would just ignore it. It was one Instagram story of Fami which prompted me to try these. I pulled up my…
Dates Bliss Balls
While I chose the theme “Sweets without Refined Ingredients” for the Blogging Marathon #94, I had no doubts in my mind regarding this particular one I am making today. Dates bliss balls have been doing rounds for all obvious and good reasons! All ingredients that go into making it are very healthy – whether it’s the dates, the nuts, coconut oil or cocoa powder. It is one of the safest bet to get your sugar fix when you really crave for it. All you need is one ball – take it in your hand, choose a comfortable corner, and slowly chew to enjoy it. It makes you feel really good after eating and your sugar cravings get fixed without a hint of sugar! How cool is that! 🙂 Dates is something I always have at home, but making these balls took too much time. I made…